The Future is Now: Lower Impulsivity, Delay Gratification

The problem with self-control is that we are usually paying now for a reward later. The consequence is that we discount future rewards and give in to feel good now. How can we learn to delay gratification? Here’s some new research that might help.

This Week in Psychological Science (TWiPS) just posted a new article published by Tinuke Oluyomi Daniel, Christina Stanton, and Leonard Epstein (University at Buffalo, The State University of New York) entitled, "The Future Is Now: Reducing Impulsivity and Energy Intake Using Episodic Future Thinking." In this study, the authors explore how future thinking helps with impulse control. The participants in their study that thought about the future were able to eat fewer calories, thereby sticking to their goal to reduce their food intake and meet their weight-control goal.

In an earlier similar study published in the journal Appetite (read a summary here), Epstein and his colleagues concluded that “when people are taught to imagine, or simulate the future, they can improve their ability to delay gratification.”

If you’re interested in how this “time travel” to the future can help in relation to our self-control, you may want to read this previous blog post on "tough love" for procrastinators that explains other ways that thinking about the future can help bolster our self control.

This was a great post, and so is the rest of the blog! it still amazes me how much we can accomplish for ourselves through our imagination. As you have shown, the simple act of projecting ourselves into the future can assist and ease us into the delay of gratification process. Similarly, athletes who project themselves into a future game or performance are more focused once the time comes to perform. This truly demonstrates that we are not simply passengers, but the driving force behind our lives.